fbpx
Sign up now!
Don't show this again
Download the report!Continue to Site >
or wait 7 secs

Thank you for confirming your subscription!

(And remember, if ever you want to change your email preferences or unsubscribe, just click on the links at the bottom of any email.)

We’re glad you’re enjoying Pig Health Today.
Access is free but you’ll need to register to view more content.
Already registered? Sign In
Tap to download the app
X
Share
X

REPORTS

Collect articles and features into your own report to read later, print or share with others

Create a New Report

Favorites

Read Later

Create a new report

Report title (required) Brief description (optional)
CREATE
X
NEXT
PORK POULTRY
follow us


You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Favorites Read Later My Reports PHT Special Reports
Pig Health Today is equipped with some amazing (and free) tools for organizing and sharing content, as well as creating your own magazines and special reports. To access them, please register today.
Sponsored by Zoetis

Pig Health Today | Sponsored by Zoetis

.
Featured Video Play Icon

Ileitis: Is it possible to control in baby pigs without antibiotics?

Ileitis may be a ubiquitous disease in grow-finish pigs, but with changes in on-farm antibiotic use it could become a new, more common challenge in the nursery period.

Because antibiotics fed to nursery pigs have helped control the Lawsonia intracellularis bacterium that causes ileitis, the clinical signs — diarrhea, gauntness, poor performance — tend to be delayed.

“With the trend toward fewer and fewer [feed] antibiotics, we expect ileitis to become a more common disease in the mid- to late-nursery period,” Nate Winkelman, DVM, president of Swine Services Unlimited, told Pig Health Today.

He estimates that more than 95% of pig production sites in North America have either clinical or subclinical ileitis.

Reduced nutrient absorption

Lawsonia causes the pig’s intestinal lining to thicken, which reduces its ability to absorb nutrients and negatively impacts feed efficiency and growth performance.

Antibiotics have long been the first choice for managing this enteric disease, but there’s also demand for pigs raised without antibiotics.  The challenge, Winkelman said, is meeting that need while still guarding against this costly gut disease.

“You can’t replace antibiotics,” he added.  “We’re just looking for other alternatives that might improve performance of infected pigs.”

While there are two ileitis vaccines available — one oral, one injectable — Winkelman said “it takes 4 weeks to maximize immunity” in vaccinated pigs and therefore “the timing isn’t right to protect the nursery pig.”

Looking for possible solutions, he teamed up with Fernando Leite, DVM, who at the time was a graduate research assistant at the University of Minnesota, to study different forms of supplemental zinc in pig diets and its impact on Lawsonia.

It’s well known that zinc plays a role in maintaining intestinal health — in both pigs and people.

“We know that zinc oxide, for instance, can have bactericidal activities, but we wanted to look at an organic form of zinc that can be absorbed differently by the animal,” Leite said. “The trial wasn’t aimed at killing Lawsonia but, rather, helping the pig respond to infection.”

The study revealed that pigs fed the zinc amino acid complex had less severe intestinal lesions associated with Lawsonia and the negative performance impact of ileitis. Both veterinarians find the results promising but emphasize the need to replicate the study to ensure consistent results.

Hyper-immunized chicken eggs

In an earlier study, Winkelman evaluated the use of chicken eggs hyper-immunized with the Lawsonia intracellularis antigen, which were then spray dried and added to swine diets, providing a passive antibody to an ileitis disease challenge.

“We had a 25% improvement in average daily gain and a 26% improvement in average daily feed intake,” Winkelman noted.

So, while the search for antibiotic alternatives continues, there’s growing evidence that these alternatives have potential.

“We’re looking at feed, water, vaccine options — all kinds of things that we need to do to replace antibiotics,” where needed, he added.

“As veterinarians, we have to be careful when we remove antibiotics, because there’s an impact on performance, mortality and morbidity from an animal-welfare standpoint,” Winkelman said.

“But if the consumer is willing to pay for…no-antibiotics-ever pork and there’s a market for those pigs, then we need to have alternatives.”




Posted on November 7, 2018

tags: , ,
RELATED NEWS



You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Google Translate is provided on this website as a reference tool. However, Poultry Health Today and its sponsor and affiliates do not guarantee in any way the accuracy of the translated content and are not responsible for any event resulting from the use of the translation provided by Google. By choosing a language other than English from the Google Translate menu, the user agrees to withhold all liability and/or damage that may occur to the user by depending on or using the translation by Google.